A self-made man who grew up in a trailer park

Tillis' spokesman countered Hagan's attacks by noting that that tax cuts and regulatory changes passed by the General Assembly since Republicans gained power in 2010 have boosted middle-class families and small businesses.

Tillis aides concede that
Hagan has gotten a head start raising money and making her pitch to voters, but said voters would come to respect his life story. Tillis, they said, grew up in a trailer park and is a "self-made man."

"Only one candidate has been telling a story,"
said a Tillis strategist. "The Thom Tillis story has yet to be told."

Tillis's campaign, meanwhile, has called Hagan a "rubber stamp" for Obama's policies, chiding her for her vote supporting the president's health-care overhaul.
The voters' negative feelings toward Obama, Tillis aides say, will help mobilize the Republican base. "North Carolinians are really not happy with the direction our country is going in," Keylin said.

Served on town commission; ousted sitting State House Rep.

More than a decade ago, a push for a mountain bike trail in his hometown of Cornelius led Thom Tillis to politics, first leading him to serve on a park board and then a year later on the town commission.

The Republican is returning to the story of his
political roots as he campaigns for the US Senate. "I've only been in office since 2007," he said after filing his candidacy papers last week. "I served for a small time in the town of Cornelius. I was PTA president 8 years ago."

The effort is designed
to portray Tillis as the candidate who can deliver results and push back against his label as the establishment candidate. But it also highlights his start in state politics in 2006 when he ousted a conservative lawmaker in a GOP primary, 2-term
Republican state Rep. John Rhodes. The Tillis-Rhodes race is seared into the minds of some conservative activists; the the leader of the Charlotte Tea Party, said Tillis' effort to beat Rhodes helped sow "a level of distrust among conservatives."

"Moral Mondays" are for whining losers who oppose GOP agenda

N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis described opponents of the Republican agenda in the General Assembly as "losers" in an interview. "I think for the most part, what I see from the folks who are opposing our agenda is whining coming from losers," Tillis told
Politico.com when asked about the current political environment. "They lost, they don't like it, and they are going to try to do everything they can to cast doubt on things that I think are wise and that the average citizen will like."

Tillis is one of Gov. Pat McCrory's closest allies and helped engineer majorities in the state House and Senate for the GOP in 2010. McCrory is the state's first Republican governor since 1993.

Democrats and others frustrated by the sharp turn
to the right participated in a series of protests dubbed "Moral Mondays" throughout the General Assembly session. Ministers, teachers and other activists participated in the protests, which migrated to Charlotte and other cities.